Liverpool have given the clearest indication yet that Rafael Benítez's six-year spell in charge is drawing to a close by offering their manager £3m to leave Anfield. The Spaniard, entitled to £16m if sacked this summer, has been offered the lesser sum to quit with immediate effect.

Benítez's position has been in serious doubt since January, when Juventus targeted the 50-year-old to replace Ciro Ferrara. The Liverpool manager allowed that opportunity to pass in the hope of staying at Anfield, providing he obtained assurances over the transfer budget and search for new investment. However, with the club unable or unwilling to provide Benítez with those guarantees, the Liverpool board has effectively issued a vote of no confidence in the manager and presented him with a shock exit route.

The former Valencia coach has held several rounds of talks with the Liverpool chairman, Martin Broughton, in recent weeks, where he outlined his future strategy following a dispiriting season. He is understood to have stressed that Liverpool cannot recover without an end to Tom Hicks's and George Gillett's calamitous ownership or without a commitment to reinvest in the squad should Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard decide to leave this summer.

Liverpool's best two players have both said they will consider their futures after the World Cup, and Marca, the Spanish sports paper with close ties to Real Madrid, yesterday announced that Gerrard is the principal target of Real Madrid's new manager, José Mourinho.

With no takeover imminent, and Hicks revealing last week that it could take until next year to find an investor willing to meet his £600m-800m price for Liverpool, Anfield officials have reacted to Benítez's demands with a counter-offer that suggests they accept the impasse cannot continue and renders his position untenable. The Liverpool manager was unavailable for comment on the club's move last night but his agent, Manuel Garcia Quilon, said: "We don't know anything more than what's being said. We're not saying anything."

Under the terms of the lucrative contract signed last year, Benítez is entitled to a full payout if the deal is terminated by the club. With four years remaining on it, Liverpool would have to dig too deep to sack the man who has won a European Cup and FA Cup since his arrival in 2004. Their offer of less than a quarter of that sum is a further indication of the financial constraints at a club who, for the year to 31 July 2009, were £350m in debt and posted the biggest annual loss in its history, £55m.

Liverpool's compromise package could be a means to encourage a takeover, by removing a manager whom a potential new investor does not want, for a reduced fee. However, with Hicks and Gillett holding out for a substantial profit on a club who have yet to begin work on a proposed stadium in Stanley Park, and no offer for a total sale on the table, it is more likely a sign that Benítez's conditions cannot be met. The manager has had to sell players before he could buy during recent transfer windows and in the absence of a new investor or monies from the possible sales of Gerrard and Torres, he would be in a similar position this summer.

Should Benítez accept the payoff, and there are no indications at present that he will do so, he is unlikely to struggle to find employment despite Juventus, having lost patience in their pursuit of the Liverpool manager, appointing Luigi Del Neri as coach and Real Madrid, another former suitor, replacing Manuel Pellegrini with Mourinho. The president of the reigning European champions Internazionale, Massimo Moratti, is a confirmed admirer of the Spaniard and has seen his hopes of enticing Fabio Capello back to Italy after the World Cup dashed.

Where Benítez's departure would leave Liverpool, meanwhile, is open to conjecture. Two potential candidates, Roy Hodgson and Martin O'Neill, have reiterated their commitment to Fulham and Aston Villa respectively since the end of last season and there are unlikely to be substantial funds available at Anfield this summer. The club may be forced to appoint a short-term option before the takeover process is completed.

The Liverpool careers of Gerrard and Torres are not intrinsically linked to the presence or departure of Benítez. Both have been awaiting evidence the club can strengthen the squad and compete for honours next season before making a decision on their futures.